Method For Arranging Pages of a Printed Work on Signatures, and Method For Representing a Production of a Printed Work

ABSTRACT

A method for arranging pages of a print product on fold sheets which are subsequently combined into an imposing scheme on print sheets is disclosed, wherein the print sheets are initially imprinted with the pages for producing the print product and then cut into the fold sheets, thereafter the fold sheets are folded and cut and collated into the print products, and in order to make the determination of the imposing schemes more variable initially the pages are assigned to partitions of the print products and pages of the print product included in a partition are either not separated from each other, or only separated from each other by a last cut of the print product and the partitions are disposed on the fold sheets, wherein partitions are depicted, which are hierarchically subordinated to the product components and superordinated to the pages, such that pages of the print product included in the partitions are either not separated from one another, or only separated from one another by a last cut of the print product in the course of the production.

The invention initially relates to a method for arranging pages of aprint product on folded sheets, which are subsequently combined into animposition scheme on print sheets, wherein the print sheets forproducing the print product are initially imprinted with the pages andthen cut into the fold sheets, thereafter the fold sheets are folded andcut and collated into the print products.

For producing a multipage print product by generally known printmethods, e.g. in offset-, letterpress-, gravure-, flexo-, or digitalprint, several pages are printed together on a large format print sheet.For example, a 16-page magazine in DIN-A4 format can be printed on asingle print sheet in the standard format 63×88 cm (double-sided).

The genus “sheet” designates the flat paper ware in various embodimentsin the context of the production of a print product. A “raw sheet” fromthe paper storage is cut to a “print sheet” format, which can beprocessed by the print press. The print sheet can be cut into “partialsheets” thereafter in the process. Print- or partial sheets are folded(or creased) as “fold sheets” in the folding machine, possibly collatedinto a “raw block”, which is eventually bound in a collation folder orin a gluing folder at one edge and “block” cut at the other edges.Through the variations of this base principle, the known plurality ofbound print products is created. For example, the block for producing amagazine can be provided with a wrapper made of a heavier paper, whichis imprinted in a more complex manner. For producing a book, several rawblocks are bound at a common back by thread binding.

A fold sheet is folded by cross folding or parallel folding. In case ofcross folding, each additional fold of the sheet is performedtransversal to the preceding fold, in parallel folding it is performedparallel to the preceding fold. In zigzag or leporello folds, the foldsare performed in parallel and in alternating direction, in a roll foldthe fold lines are in parallel and the paper is wound up. A combinationof cross fold and parallel fold is designated as mixed fold. Whenfolding, the running direction of the paper, in particular the paperweight needs to be considered. A four-line fold for book binding isgenerally used up to 80 g, a three-line fold is used up to 150 g, atwo-line fold is used up to 200 g, and a single line fold is up to apaper weight of 500 g.

By folding and creasing, the sheet is organized into fields by lines andcolumns. In these fields, the particular pages of the print product haveto be organized, so that they appear in the print product in the desiredsequence and in the correct orientation. The arrangement of the pages onthe sheets required for a print product can be changed e.g. by specialsheets inserted into the raw block. Examples for such special sheets arecardboard sheets with postcards, which can be cut out, sheets made oftransparent paper for multilayer graphics, or sheets with single foilcovered, lacquered pages, or otherwise particularly treated pages. Theactivity of arranging the pages is designated as “imposing”, thearrangement on the sheet is designated as “imposing scheme”.

Print sheets and their imposition schemes are construed by well known,highly specialized CAD (computer aided design) systems. Compared to amanual layout, such systems have a plurality of advantages. By linkingdimensions, CAD systems on the one hand, offer an automatic plausibilitycontrol, on the other hand, linked dimensions, e.g. the width of acutoff portion, the position and size of a marker, can be automaticallyadjusted, when a dimension changes, e.g. a page format. In particular,imposition schemes can be archived with little complexity and are thusavailable as a basis for subsequent similar applications.

Generally known methods for disposing pages of a print product on foldsheets revert to such an archive of possible imposition schemes. A neworder to produce a print product is reduced according to the knownmethod as far as possible to one or several known imposing schemes. Thedisposition of the pages of the print product on folded sheets is notseparated according to the known method from the arrangement of the foldsheets on the print sheet. The known methods are the more flexible, thelarger the underlying archive of the possible imposing schemes.

The invention furthermore relates to a method for depicting theproduction of a print product in a networked graphic production, whereinbased on an order for producing the print product, a tree shaped productstructure is depicted, which branches over the print product and theproduct components of the print product down to pages of the printproduct.

Such a method is known from “the script for process oriented dataexchange with management information systems under the aspect of a fullynetworked print shop”. This paper refers to the version 1.1, which iscurrent at the moment of filing this application of the “European PrintManagement System Association” (“EUPRIMA”, www.euprima.orq), anassociation of leading innovative vendors of MIS. It is suggestedtherein according to the philosophy of the consortium “InternationalCorporation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press, andPost press” (“CIP4-Consortium”, www.cip4.org) and the concept basedthereon of the job definition format (“JDF”), to make their datastructures also the basis of the layout of print sheet, and to defineproduction processes within the data structures of the partial productsof a job, in particular with reference to the print sheet associatedwith a job.

JDF and the “job messaging format” (“JMF”, a subgroup of JDF), aregenerally known data formats developed and maintained by theCIP4-Consortium. The development of JDF is based on the objective tostandardize the communication between print shop, designer, advertisingagency, and customer for printed matters and subcontractors ofcontractors in the context of a networked graphic production for allproduction variants and eventualities in a flexible manner withoutrestrictions.

JDF is based on the extensible markup language (“XML”), also a generallyknown Meta language, which was developed by the “World Wide WebConsortium” (“W3C”, www.w3.org) for defining document types andaccording to the intention of the CIP4-consortium is to serve as astandard data format for describing processes and products, not only inall production areas of a networked print shop, in particular in sales,job costing, and order processing, production planning and control inthe production itself, in prepress, press, print post processing, andshipping, in the cross sectional areas of materials and warehousemanagement, financial and payroll accounting, controlling costaccounting and quality assurance. By means of the vertical integrationof data on the one hand of the production process, and on the other handof the business sectors JDF is intended to facilitate a hightransparency of all production processes, a standardized documentationof relevant target- and actual data and a seamless production control ina uniform, understandable, and continuous data structure.

In a JDF data structure, each particular process for producing a printproduct in the context of processing a job is imaged in a “node”. Thenodes are linked together in a tree structure, which is intended tocompletely describe the print product, and also the process for itsmanufacture. Each of the particular process nodes is defined by itsinput and output variables. The input variables herein are the resourcesused and the parameters required for their use. A resource provided asan output variable of a process becomes an input parameter of subsequentprocess nodes. The concept (taken over from XML) of the hierarchicallybranching tree structure implies that in each process node only thoseresources are known, which are described in a superimposed node. Theaccess to a resource, which is produced in a parallel “branch” of thetree structure as an output variable is performed by a generallyaccessible data structure, which is thus also accessible from therespective two nodes.

Since the print- and fold sheets can be considered as partial structureof a print product according to the known method, they can also not becombined in another manner according to the possibilities provided inthe manufacturing process. For example, parts (particular fold sheets orproduct components) of different jobs cannot be jointly printed on afold sheet.

OBJECT

It is the object of the invention to provide a more variable method forarranging pages on fold sheets and a method for imaging a job, whichsupports this more variable arrangement of pages on fold sheets.

SOLUTION

Based on the known imposition methods, it is proposed according to theinvention that partitions of the print products are determined, whereinpages of the print product included in a partition are either notseparated from each other, or only separated from each other through thelast cut of the print product and the partitions are arranged on thefold sheets.

Different from the method based on the JDF data structures suggested byEUPRIMA, pages are managed according to the invention for the printsheet layout, not based on their property as a physical component of aprint sheet, which in turn is associated with a job. Instead partitions,superimposed to the pages, are determined as the smallest units,initially based on the manufacturing process, and used for the layout ofthe fold sheets, and based thereon used for the layout of the printsheets.

This view oriented towards the manufacturing process, the “division”according to the above definition, is the quasi indivisible “atom” ofthe print product with reference to the production and with reference toa data and process structure based thereon, and allows for the firsttime the automatic disposition of the pages on fold sheets and thuseventually a complete automation of the print sheet layout independentfrom extensive catalogs for possible print sheets for almost any printproducts.

In a particularly preferred manner, a cost optimized disposition isselected based on a method according to the invention from variouspossible arrangements of the partitions on fold sheets and of the foldsheets on print sheets. The cost optimization can be performed on theone hand for determining an optimum arrangement based on individuallyprefabricated decision tables and on the other hand based on acomparative consideration of several “calculated” proposals. The costoptimization can be performed in particular in the context of aso-called “production optimization”, which comprises an elimination ofprocess steps, which reaches as far as possible, which are consideredparticularly error prone, based on experience, or based on statisticevaluation of previous work, or based on the preferential execution ofprocess steps which are considered particularly error free.

In particular in the context of a cost optimization preferably anarrangement is selected, so that the waste is minimized and/orpredetermined quality requirements are achieved. The optimization withrespect to the paper use considers the fact that in more comprehensiveprint jobs the paper cost is the substantially largest cost factor, anda reduction of the paper cost means almost directly a reduction of thetotal cost, or a profit increase. The quality requirements for a printproduct can restrict the number or the type of the folds in particular.For example, in cross fold through the stronger displacement of theinnermost position of the fold relative to the outmost position of thefold more or less recognizable “crush folds” are created, which arerather tolerated in a train schedule, than in an annual report of acorporation.

In an advantageous manner, the possible arrangements of the partitionson fold sheets and of the fold sheets on print sheets are determined bya plurality of sheet formats in the context of a method according to theinvention. An optimization in consideration of all sheet formatsavailable in the warehouse, or processible with the available machinesallows the useful application of the method according to the invention,also in the context of large print shops with several differentproduction lines.

A method according to the invention can furthermore provide the optionto arrange partitions on fold sheets and fold sheets on print sheetsindependently from being associated with the print product, in order toproduce a plurality of print products. Besides producing various, e.g.language, or country specific, variants, the paper raw material can thusbe used more efficiently in particular in specialized print shops, whichfrequently produce similar print products with reference to paper types,number of colors and print volume.

Based on the known display methods, it is provided according to theinvention, that partitions are depicted, which are hierarchicallysubordinated to the product components and superordinated to the pages,wherein pages of the print product included in the partitions areseparated from each other in the context of the production, either notat all, or only by a last cutting of the print product.

A depiction according to the invention of the production of a printproduct in a data structure facilitates performing the above describedmethod, and thus in particular the automated determination of thedisposition of the pages of a print product on fold sheets, and thecomputation of an imposing scheme in the context of the calculationmodule of a MIS.

Preferably, in the context of a depiction according to the invention,print sheets, partial sheets cut out of the print sheets, and/or foldsheets comprised of the print sheets, or partial sheets and printproducts collated from the partial sheets, and/or the print sheets aredepicted in a linked network. The depiction of such a net structure inthe context of a JDF file with the XML-typical sequential tree structureis contradictory to the principle of the system. Such a depiction of ajob according to the invention allows the visualization of the ratherprocess oriented view of the executing print shops, substantial for anMIS as a central control element in the manufacturing process, comparedto the purely product oriented view of the customer for a print product.

In a graphic depiction of a job according to the invention, thepartitions are preferably linked in the product structure with the printsheets. In the customer oriented view of the product structure, and alsoin the production oriented view of the process, the partitionsconstitute purely virtual variables. For the customer, the manufactureof a product component in several partitions is not visible anymore inthe completed product. In production the partitions actually appear asdefined separate objects at one point in time (typically at the input ofthe folder or binder), however they do not appear like in the depictionas an “input variable” of the print sheets. Still, the term “partition”,whose actual meaning is easily understandable for the customer, and alsofrom a manufacturing point of view, and its depiction at the interfacebetween the illustrations of the product structure and the process,facilitates an illustration of the contexts in a complex networkedgraphic production, which is intuitively particularly wellunderstandable.

EMBODIMENT

The invention is subsequently described with reference to an embodiment.It is shown in:

FIG. 1 a a product structure;

FIG. 1 b a first manufacturing process;

FIG. 2 a a first partition;

FIG. 2 b a first fold sheet;

FIG. 3 a a second partition;

FIG. 3 b a second fold sheet;

FIG. 4 a selection of print sheet layouts;

FIG. 5 a first imposition scheme;

FIG. 6 a a second manufacturing process; and

FIG. 6 b a second imposition scheme.

According to the first part of a product structure 1, which is shown inFIG. 1 a according to the invention branched like a tree, a job 2 “printproducts” comprises the production of two print products 3, 4 fordifferent recipient groups. The print product 3 “brochure German”comprises a 4-page product part 5 “Wrapper”, and a 24-page product part6 “content”. The print product 4 “brochure Dutch” also comprises a4-page product component 7 “wrapper”, and an 8-page product component 8“content”.

In the context of costing the job 2 by means of an MIS, the process 9for producing the print products 3, 4 is automatically suggested asillustrated in FIG. 1 b. The product components 5, 7 “wrapper” of thetwo print products 3, 4 are printed in two respective pieces on a commonprint sheet 10, subsequently shown in detail with reference to FIG. 5,printed in quadruple utilization, and cut in partial sheets 11respectively with single utilization. A first 16-pager 12 of the productcomponent 6 “content” of the print product 3 “brochure German” isprinted in single utilization on a separate print sheet 13 and foldedsubsequently. Another 8-pager 14 with the rest of the product component6 “content” of the print product 3 “brochure German” is printed togetherwith the 8-pager 49 of the product component 8 “content” of the printproduct 4 “brochure Dutch” on a third print sheet 15 and subsequentlycut into two partial sheets 16, which are then folded and collated in acombination folder into raw blocks 17 and bound together with thepartial sheets 11 of the product components 5, 7 “wrapper”. By means offinal cutting in the combination folder, the print products 3, 4 arefinished.

As partitions 18, thus units, which are not separated from each otheraccording to the job costing proposal in the context of the productionof the print products 3, 4 before the final cutting of the raw blocks17, the partial sheets 11 of the product components 5, 7 “wrapper” andthe fold sheets of the product components 6, 8 “content” in the productstructure 1 according to FIG. 1 a are illustrated as components of theprint products 3, 4 and, on the other hand, in the process according toFIG. 1 b, illustrated as components of the print sheets. The productstructure 1 according to FIG. 1 a, on the one hand, and the process 9according to FIG. 1 b, on the other hand, are shown on the graphic userinterface (not shown) as a consecutive network plan depiction withdirect transition.

The product structure 1 branches out like a tree. The nodes 19representing the job 2, the print products 3, 4, the product components5, 6, 7, 8 are “1-n”-linked, thus they comprise at the most one incomingand any number, also none, outgoing links 20 with another node 19. Theprocess 9, on the other hand, comprises a network structure startingwith the partitions 18, as “sources” up to the raw blocks 17 as “sinks”,wherein the nodes 21 are “n-m”-linked, thus they can comprise anindependent number of ingoing and outgoing links 22, thus also no links.

FIG. 2 a shows a partition 23 comprising two pages 24 to be imprinted onboth sides respectively, and a binding space 25 disposed there between,and a unilaterally circumferential cut 26. This partition 23 representsthe product component 7 “wrapper” of the print product 4 “brochureDutch”. FIG. 2 b shows a partial sheet 27, composed of two of saidpartitions 23. The two partitions 23 are disposed in the sameorientation in running direction 28 behind each other on the partialsheet 27, and they are initially cut at the separation line 29 therebetween and folded in the combination folder in the binding space 25 ona folding machine.

FIG. 3 a shows a second partition 30 with four pages 31 to be imprintedon both sides respectively, each comprising a circumferential cut 32.This partition 30 represents the product component 8 “content” of theprint product 4 “brochure Dutch”. FIG. 3 b shows a fold sheet 33 withcross fold, imparted with such a partition 30 according to FIG. 3 a. Thefold sheet 33 comprises an overbold 34 in addition to thecircumferential cut, already included in the partition 30.

FIG. 4 shows a selection 35 of predefined print sheet layouts 36, whichis stored in the MIS. The print sheet layouts 36 each comprise arectangular shape and they are divided into fields 37. In order togenerate the imposing scheme 38, shown in detail in FIG. 5, two partialsheets 27 according to FIG. 2 b with one respective product component 5,7 “wrapper” of the two print products 3, 4 are disposed on the firstprint sheet 10 according to the print sheet layout 39 shown on the topright in the selection 35 according to FIG. 4, wherein said print sheet10 comprises another circumferential cut 40 besides the cut 26, definedfor the partial sheets 27, wherein said cut 40 holds a color calibrationstripe 42, disposed among other things along a longitudinal side 41 ofthe print sheet 10.

FIG. 6 a shows a manually generated alternative process 43 for producingthe print products 3, 4 according to the proposal, which differs fromthe proposal automatically generated by the MIS, to print all partitions12, 14, 19 of the product component 6, 8 “content” of the two printproducts 3, 4 together in the imposing scheme 44 illustrated in FIG. 6 baccording to the print sheet layout 47 shown in the second line 45,first column 46 of the selection 35 according to FIG. 4 on a commonprint sheet 48.

DESIGNATIONS

-   1 product structure-   2 job-   3 print product “brochure German”-   4 print product “brochure Dutch”-   5 product component “wrapper”-   6 product component “content”-   7 product component “wrapper”-   8 product component “content”-   9 process-   10 print sheet-   11 partial sheet-   12 16-pager-   13 print sheet-   14 8-pager-   15 print sheet-   16 partial sheet-   17 raw block-   18 partition-   19 node-   20 link-   21 node-   22 link-   23 partition-   24 page-   25 binding space-   26 cut-   27 partial sheet-   28 running direction-   29 separation line-   30 partition-   31 page-   32 cut-   33 fold sheet-   34 over fold-   35 selection-   36 print sheet layout-   37 field-   38 imposing scheme-   39 print sheet layout-   40 cut-   41 longitudinal side-   42 color calibration stripe-   43 process-   44 imposing scheme-   45 line-   46 column-   47 print sheet layout-   48 print sheet-   49 8-pager

1. A method for arranging pages of a print product on fold sheets Godwhich are subsequently combined into an imposing scheme on print sheets,wherein the print sheets are initially imprinted with the pages forproducing the print product, and then cut into the fold sheets,thereafter the fold sheets (33) are folded and cut and collated into theprint products wherein the pages are initially assigned partitions ofthe print products, wherein pages of the print product included in apartition are either not separated from each other, or only separatedfrom each other by a last cut of the print product and the partitionsare disposed on the fold sheets.
 2. A method according to claim 1,wherein a cost optimized arrangement is selected from the variouspossible arrangements of the partitions on the fold sheets and from thearrangements of the fold sheets on the print sheets.
 3. A methodaccording to claim 2, wherein an arrangement is selected, so that thewaste is minimized and/or the predetermined quality requirements arereached.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the possiblearrangements of the partitions on fold sheets and the arrangement offold sheets on print sheets is determined with a plurality of sheetformats.
 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein for the production ofa number of print products, partitions are disposed on fold sheets andfold sheets are disposed on print sheets, independently from theirassociation with the print products.
 6. A method for depicting aproduction of a print product in a networked print production, whereinbased on a job for producing the print product, a tree product structureis depicted, which branches over the print product and productcomponents of the print product to pages of the print product whereinpartitions are depicted, which are hierarchically subordinated to theproduct components and superordinated to the pages wherein pages of theprint product included in the partitions are either not separated fromone another, or only separated from one another by a last cut of theprint product in the course of the production.
 7. A method according tothe claim 6, wherein print sheets, partial sheets cut out of the printsheets, and/or fold sheets comprised of the print sheets and/or thepartial sheets and the print product collated from the partial sheetsand/or the print sheets are depicted linked in a network.
 8. A methodaccording to claim 7, wherein the partitions are linked to the printsheets in the product structure.